CANBERRA, ACT, March 12 -- The Treasurer of Australia issued the following transcript:
Note
Subjects: petrol prices, increased penalties, regional fuel supplies, inflation
Sarah Abo:
The federal government will impose fines of up $100million for petrol stations caught intentionally ripping off customers.
Karl Stefanovic:
For more on this, we're joined by Treasurer Jim Chalmers in Canberra. Jim, good morning to you. Thanks for your time today. Look, how many have been fined so far and how much?
Jim Chalmers:
Well, first of all, Karl, I wanted to identify with you re‑watching the Grand Final from that last year, I've been doing that as well. And I will get to these important matters, but I really wanted to congratulate Sarah as well on her news. Congratulations.
Stefanovic:
She's had one for the country.
Chalmers:
I hope it all goes really well.
Abo:
Thank you, and I appreciate that. That's very kind.
Chalmers:
Yeah. Now on fuel, obviously, this is the main focus of the government right now. I'm not prepared to go into some of the work that the ACCC does. I'm not sure of the legal status of some of that. But yesterday we did take steps to double the fines that the ACCC is able to seek when it comes to petrol retailers doing the wrong thing.
You know, our message is really clear. We don't want petrol retailers doing the wrong thing by Australians, taking advantage of what's happening in the Middle East. There have been some concerning increases in prices.
I spoke to the ACCC Chair before 6 o'clock this morning about some of these concerns that we have about what we're seeing with prices. Australia has enough supply overall, but we know, and you know, Karl, I've heard you speak about this through the course of the week, that there are some localised pressures, and we're working very closely with the ACCC and with the industry to try and address those concerns that people have.
Abo:
Has it come a little bit too late, though, Treasurer, because a lot of people have been complaining about the peak in prices last week, when we shouldn't have seen them then? And that doesn't solve the problem right now.
Chalmers:
Well, we'd already had a very robust regime for the ACCC to get to the bottom of what's happening here. But yesterday, Minister Bowen and I made 3 important announcements: the doubling of the fines is important, increased surveillance of some of these suspicious price spikes as well, and, thirdly, giving the ACCC the ability to work with industry to coordinate their efforts in some of these regional areas where people are especially concerned.
And so those are important steps, but they're not the first steps that we've taken. We do understand that there's a lot of concern about price. I think there have been some suspicious price rises. It's for the ACCC to determine that in the way that the system works, but we've certainly been working closely with them to get to the bottom of what's happening, and if anyone's doing the wrong thing, they'll be hit with bigger fines.
Stefanovic:
So, has someone been fined yet or not?
Chalmers:
Under the old regime, Karl, that has been the case, but these new developments, the announcement that we made yesterday, the maximum $100million penalty, we need to legislate that as quickly as possible. But under the old regime, as I understand it, as I'm advised, there have been fines issued.
Stefanovic:
See, the problem is, part of the problem is in the communication from government, you're maintaining that there is supply and then farmer after farmer after farmer sends me a message saying, 'We've got no fuel for the tractor, we've got no fuel for the harvest, we've got no fuel for the seeding that's going on right now' and they don't have any guarantees down the track because where has the fuel gone? Is it just that the cartels are hoarding it?
Chalmers:
Well, a couple of things here, and obviously, Karl, I've seen- I thought you were a bit rough on my mate Amanda Rishworth earlier in the week about this, because 2 things are going on at the same time, and we acknowledge both.
The first one is that overall, Australia has enough fuel. The shipments are arriving; we've got big stockpiles. But we do acknowledge, and this is the second point that you've been focused on, we do acknowledge that in some local communities and particularly regional communities, there have been shortages that we are working with the ACCC and the industry to address.
Now the main reason for that is even in regional areas we're told by the suppliers that there was enough for usual patterns of consumption, but not for these elevated levels of buying. And so we acknowledge all of that. All of that is something that we take very seriously. We also have been engaging with the National Farmers' Federation and others via Minister Collins, and so we know that there are these concerns, particularly in some local communities, and where those concerns are popping up, we consider them to be legitimate, and we work with the industry and the ACCC to try and address them.
Stefanovic:
With respect, I will continue to be rough on the government if I think they've fallen short, and wherever you've got farmers who cannot fill their tractors and cannot have a harvest, cannot seed, cannot make money for their families, I will continue to press for them to be looked after. And there's no quick fix for that. Where is the fuel? Can you answer that question?
Chalmers:
I can. I mean, I mean, first of all, Karl, I understand the concerns that people are raising with you. I don't for one second dismiss or diminish the very real concerns that people have, particularly in regional communities where there have been issues for us to address.
Now, overall in Australia, as I said, there is enough fuel, and we're working closely with industry to make sure that we can get that fuel on trucks to communities where shortages have emerged.
You know, we take this challenge really seriously, the fact -
Stefanovic:
But Treasurer, Treasurer -
Chalmers:
- I'm talking with the ACCC before dawn this morning -
Stefanovic:
- I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry to interrupt, but you know where the fuel is. You know where the fuel is. You're saying, 'Okay, we're working with industry to get that fuel on trucks,' well, where is it? There are people still waiting for it. I mean, come on. Get your act together.
Chalmers:
We have been treating this with the urgency that it deserves, Karl, I can assure you of that. It's really the main thing that the government has been focused on, and that's because we take these concerns seriously, whether they're raised directly by farmers or via the NFF or even by yourself and others, we know that there are serious concerns out there, and that's why we're working very hard to address them.
Abo:
I guess Karl wouldn't be hearing from them if they were happy with what's been going on, so the delays are existing and they're hurting the bottom line as well for them, and for the supply of our food bowl as well. But I guess, Treasurer, you also face the issue of inflation, right? I mean, this is going to force things up inevitably for you.
Chalmers:
I've made it really clear that we had an inflation challenge in our economy and developments in the Middle East over the last couple of weeks will make that more challenging rather than less challenging. We've seen already the way that the global oil price has spiked. We've been speaking about what that has meant for petrol prices here in Australia, and there will be flow‑on consequences as well.
So we're in the process of updating our forecasts for inflation. Some of the private economists have made their views clear already that they expect there to be additional upward pressure on inflation, and of course, that's something that the government's very focused on as we put this fifth Budget together in 2months' time.
Stefanovic:
Rough times at the moment. Treasurer, thanks for your time.
Abo:
Thank you, Treasurer.
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
